In market-driven product development, large numbers of requirements flow in continuously. It is critical for product management to select the requirements aligned with overall business goals and discard others as early as possible. It has been suggested in literature to utilize product strategies for early requirements triage and selection. However, no explicit method/model/framework has been suggested as how to do it. This thesis presents a model for early requirements triage and selection utilizing product strategies based on a literature study and interviews with people at two organizations about the requirements triage and selection processes and product strategies formulation. The model is validated statically within the same two organizations. / 0735530320

Strategic release planning (road-mapping) is an important phase of requirements engineering process performed at product level. It is concerned with selection and assignment of requirements in sequences of releases such that important technical and resource constraints are fulfilled. It is always considered difficult to form a strategic release plan due to varying constraints and uncertainties. In this regard, different strategic release planning models have been presented in academia and different methods are being used in Industry. In this thesis, strategic release planning models presented in academia and some methods of strategic release planning being used in Industry are identified. The contributions of these models are also provided in the thesis. A systematic review has been performed to know strategic release planning models in academia. The aim of systematic review is to present fair evaluation of research concerning strategic release planning models. Through systematic review, requirements selection factors considered by a model, validation details of model and a model’s usefulness for bespoke and market-driven development are summarized. Moreover two organizations have been interviewed to know strategic release planning models being used in Industry in addition to the ones presented in academia. Similarly contribution of models being used in Industry is provided by logging details of requirements selection factors, validation details and usefulness for bespoke and market-driven software development of each model / process of Industry. Based on systematic review and industrial interviews’ results, a list of common requirements selection factors (considered by models of academia and Industry) is provided. Some general recommendations have been given for research in academia on strategic release planning models after analysis of systematic review and industrial interviews’ results. / Strategisk release planering (väg-kartläggning) är en viktig fas av requirements engineering process som utförs på produktnivå. Det handlar om urval och tilldelning av kraven i sekvenser av utsläpp så att viktiga tekniska och resurser är uppfyllda. Det är alltid anses svårt att skapa en strategisk release planen på grund av olika begränsningar och osäkerheter. I detta avseende olika strategiska release planering modeller har presenterats i den akademiska världen och olika metoder som används inom industrin. I denna avhandling, strategisk release planering modeller i den akademiska världen och vissa metoder för strategisk release planering som används inom industrin har identifierats. Bidraget från dessa modeller är också i avhandlingen. En systematisk genomgång har gjorts att veta strategisk release planering modeller i den akademiska världen. Syftet med systematisk översyn är att presentera en rättvis utvärdering av forskning om strategisk release planering modeller. Genom systematisk genomgång, krav urval faktorer betraktas som en modell, validering uppgifter om modell och en modell nyttan för beställda och marknadsdriven utveckling sammanfattas. Dessutom två organisationer som har intervjuats att veta strategisk release planering modeller som används inom industrin och utöver de åtgärder som presenteras i den akademiska världen. Likaså bidrag av modeller som används inom industrin ges genom att logga information om kraven urval faktorer, validering information och nytta för den beställda och marknadsdrivna mjukvaruutvecklingen av varje modell/process industri. Baserat på systematisk genomgång och industriell intervjuer resultat, en förteckning över gemensamma krav urval faktorer (som av modeller av den akademiska världen och industrin) tillhandahålls. Några allmänna rekommendationer har fått för forskning i den akademiska världen på strategisk release planering modeller efter analys av systematisk översyn och industriell intervjuer resultat. / +46765541016, +46762920070

ABSTRACT Context: Requirements triage is a crucial activity in requirements engineering process for market-driven products. Triage deals with selection of appropriate requirements from large number of requirements for particular release plan. If triage is not performed initially, selection and management of a large number of requirements would be difficult in requirements engineering process. In market-driven product development triage is followed by estimation and prioritization of requirements to be selected for a particular release plan, also termed as requirements selection. Product development is done based on the set of requirements selected in requirements selection process. Objectives: The objective of the thesis is to find whether there is a need to improve existing requirements triage process or not, identify the challenges and shortcomings of the existing requirements triage and selection solutions and suggest improvements to address identified challenges and shortcomings. Methods: In order to identify existing requirements triage and selection solutions (method, model, tool, technique, process, and others), challenges addressed by existing requirements triage and selection solutions, and the shortcomings faced while implementing them, a systematic literature review has been done. A list of challenges and shortcomings, identified through the analysis of systematic literature review results, was used as an input to industrial survey to confirm most applicable (relevant) challenges and shortcomings and to identify possibilities to address those challenges and shortcomings. Results: A process framework for requirements triage has been proposed to address the challenges faced by practitioners during triage. The steps and solutions proposed within the framework also enable to alleviate the shortcomings of the existing requirements triage solutions. Conclusions: The results of the survey have been analyzed from different perspectives: size of organization, number of requirements handled per month and experience of professional doing triage. Therefore, the proposed process framework is usable and useful for both small-scale and large-scale organizations. The initial effort required to put framework process steps in place would be high, however, later the effort will reduce not only for requirements triage but also for later phases in requirements engineering. As a spin off effect the quality of triage decision is increased.

Context: At the core of choosing what features and level of quality to realize, and thus offer a market or customer, rests on the ability to take decisions. Decision-making is complicated by the diverse understanding of issues such as priority, consequence of realization, and interpretations of strategy as pertaining to the short-term and long-term development of software intensive products. The complexity is further compounded by the amount of decision support material that has to be taken into account, and the sheer volume of possible alternatives that have to be triaged and prioritized; thousands or even tens of thousands of requirements can be the reality facing a company. There is a need to develop the functionality that is strategically most significant, while satisfying customers and being competitive, time efficient, cost effective, and risk minimizing. In order to achieve a balance between these factors, all the stakeholders, within an organization, need to agree on the strategic aspects and value considerations to be considered, and their corresponding relative importance. Objective: The objective of this thesis is to provide enhanced decision support for product managers faced with decision-making challenges. This involves, but is not limited to, enhancing the alignment between the product and portfolio management with respect to product strategies, and enabling the use of value as a basis for product management and development related decisions. Method: A number of empirical studies, set in industry, have been performed. The research methods used span from systematic mapping, and systematic reviews to case studies, all aligned to identify possibilities for improvement, devise solutions, and incrementally evaluate said solutions. Close collaboration with industry partners was at the core of the research presented in this thesis. Result: The MASS method presented in this thesis can be used to evaluate strategic alignment and identify possible root causes for misalignment. To strengthen strategic alignment, the Software Value Map and corresponding decision support material, proposed in the thesis, can be used by product managers for making effective and efficient strategic decisions in relation to portfolios, products and process improvement, following a systematic and aligned process. Conclusions: The area of software product management, in the context of market-driven software intensive product development, is a field with unique challenges. The specifics of the solutions are based on industry case studies performed to gauge state-of-the-art, as well as identify the main challenges. The decision support developed takes the form of maps and frameworks that support software product management on product and portfolio level decisions, strategic alignment, value-based requirements selection, and value-based process improvement.